The 1984–85 Southampton F.C. season was the club's 84th season of competitive football and their 15th in the First Division of the Football League. Following their highest league finish the previous season, 1984–85 saw the Saints continue to perform at the top level, finishing fifth in the league – their second-highest top flight result to date. Outside the league, the South Coast side reached the fifth round of the FA Cup, the fourth round of the League Cup, and the first round of the UEFA Cup.
After their most successful league season to date in 1983–84, Southampton had a relatively quiet summer transfer window. When Frank Worthington left after one season to join Brighton & Hove Albion, the club signed Scottish striker Joe Jordan from Italian side Hellas Verona as his replacement. Other new signings included Kevin Bond, Phil Kite and Mark Blake. Later in the season, the club brought in Andy Townsend, George Lawrence and Jimmy Case, while Steve Williams, Reuben Agboola and Ian Juryeff departed. The Saints started their league campaign poorly, dropping to the bottom of the table by picking up just one point from their first four games, before embarking on a 14-game unbeaten run to break into the top five. The team continued to pick up important results throughout the second half of the season to secure this position.
As a First Division side, Southampton entered the 1984–85 FA Cup in the third round. The club beat First Division strugglers Sunderland and Third Division side Orient, before facing elimination at the hands of Barnsley of the Second Division in the fifth round. In the League Cup, the Saints edged past Third Division side Hull City and Second Division strugglers Wolverhampton Wanderers in the second and third rounds, respectively, before they were knocked out by league rivals Queens Park Rangers in the fourth round, losing a second replay 0–4 at Loftus Road. After finishing second in the league in 1984, the club entered the 1984–85 UEFA Cup in the first round for the third time in four years. They played Hamburger SV, who had qualified as runners-up of the Bundesliga, holding them to a 0–0 draw at home before losing the away leg 0–2.
Southampton used 23 players during the 1984–85 season and had 13 different goalscorers. Their top scorer was again Steve Moran, who scored 18 goals in all competitions – 11 in the league, four in the FA Cup and three in the League Cup. New signing Joe Jordan was the club's top scorer in the First Division, with 12 league goals (he also scored twice in both the FA Cup and the League Cup). David Armstrong and Danny Wallace finished third, with ten goals each. Full-back Mick Mills played in every game during the campaign, with goalkeeper Peter Shilton missing just one game in the league. The average attendance at The Dell during 1984–85 was 18,038. The highest home attendance was 23,001 for the final game of the season, a 1–1 draw with Liverpool, and the lowest was 14,006 for a 1–0 win over Luton Town on 2 April 1985.
Background and transfers
Ahead of the 1984–85 season, a number of players left Southampton. First, striker Frank Worthington departed after one successful season, following an incident which led to him falling out with manager Lawrie McMenemy; he moved to Brighton & Hove Albion in the Second Division. In August, centre-back Ken Armstrong also left after just one year with the club, sold to recently relegated Birmingham City; and out-of-favour forward Martin Foyle moved to local Fourth Division side Aldershot for a fee of £10,000. Worthington was replaced by Joe Jordan, who signed for £150,000 from Serie A side Hellas Verona in August. Armstrong was not immediately replaced, but after the first few games of the season – which saw the Saints drop immediately to the bottom of the table with three defeats – Kevin Bond was brought in from Manchester City in September.
Transfer activity continued throughout the season. In December, first-choice midfielder Steve Williams moved to Arsenal for £550,000 – a new club record for Southampton. The next month, the Saints signed two new midfielders, bringing back George Lawrence from Oxford United, to whom he had been sold just over two years earlier, and signing youngster Andy Townsend for his first taste of the Football League, joining from Weymouth in the Alliance Premier League. Also in January, experienced defender Reuben Agboola was sold to Sunderland for £150,000, following a disciplinary incident earlier in the season. The new year also saw Ian Juryeff and Ian Baird leave Southampton for lower league sides – Juryeff moved to Orient in the Third Division, while Baird signed for Leeds United in the Second. Ivan Golac was briefly loaned out to Portsmouth.
Shortly before the end of the 1984–85 season, Southampton signed two more players – 30-year-old Jimmy Case joined from Brighton & Hove Albion for a fee of £35,000 and former player John Sharpe rejoined on a temporary, non-contract basis. Meanwhile Dennis Wise, who had signed as an apprentice ahead of the 1983–84 season, made his first professional move to Second Division side Wimbledon. According to club historians, Wise had previously been fined by McMenemy for his involvement in a "nightclub incident" with Agboola; he then, according to his own autobiography, "overplayed his hand, upon his return to the fold, in attempting to bid-up his apprentice's wages", which led to his departure shortly thereafter. Wise would later re-sign for the club in August 2005, playing a handful of games in the first half of the 2005–06 season.
Players transferred in NameNationalityClubDateFeeRef.Paul Baker Bishop AucklandJune 1984FreeMark Blakenone (free agent)July 1984FreeRobbie Carrollnone (free agent)July 1984FreeJoe Jordan Hellas VeronaAugust 1984£150,000Phil Kite Bristol RoversAugust 1984FreeKevin Bond Manchester CitySeptember 1984£60,000Chris Townsend Cardiff CityDecember 1984FreeGeorge Lawrence Oxford UnitedJanuary 1985£60,000Andy Townsend WeymouthJanuary 1985£35,000Jimmy Case Brighton & Hove AlbionMarch 1985£35,000John Sharpe GillinghamMarch 1985Free
Players transferred out NameNationalityClubDateFeeRef.Frank Worthington Brighton & Hove AlbionMay 1984UnknownAlan Knill Halifax TownJuly 1984FreeKen Armstrong Birmingham CityAugust 1984£100,000Martin Foyle AldershotAugust 1984£10,000Barry Blankley AldershotDecember 1984FreeSteve Williams ArsenalDecember 1984£550,000Reuben Agboola SunderlandJanuary 1985£150,000Ian Juryeff OrientFebruary 1985UnknownIan Baird Leeds UnitedMarch 1985£75,000Dennis Wise WimbledonMarch 1985Free
Players loaned out NameNationalityClubDate fromDate toRef.Alistair Sperring Swindon TownAugust 1984September 1984Ian Juryeff ReadingNovember 1984January 1985Ian Baird Newcastle UnitedDecember 1984January 1985Ivan Golac PortsmouthJanuary 1985March 1985
Players retired NameNationalityDateReasonRef.Dennis RofeSeptember 1984Retired due to age; took over as Southampton Reserves manager
Notes
Pre-season friendlies Ahead of the 1984–85 league campaign, Southampton played eight pre-season friendlies. Like in the previous season, the club started their pre-season preparations with a short tour of Ireland, during which they beat Galway United 2–0, Finn Harps 1-0 and Waterford United 5–0. Another repeat from the season before saw Oxford United host the Saints, which ended in a 3–0 victory for the top flight side, which was followed by a 1–2 defeat at Orient and a 1–0 win over Reading. A short Spanish tour saw Southampton lose 1–2 at Athletic Bilbao and draw 2–2 at Osasuna.
First Division
Despite finishing the previous season in a club-record second place in the First Division, Southampton started the 1984–85 league campaign in terrible form. They picked up just one point from their first four games, in a goalless draw at home to Manchester United, while facing defeat at the hands of Sunderland, West Ham United and promotees Sheffield Wednesday. After these fixtures, Southampton were bottom of the First Division table. The club's form began to improve, however, as they embarked on an unbeaten run which would stretch for the next three months. The spell began with a 1–1 draw at Luton Town, followed by the club's first league win of the season over Norwich City.
After they signed Kevin Bond at the end of September, the team's defensive record improved and they picked up a number of key wins to start moving up the league table. In early October, they beat league leaders Tottenham Hotspur by a single Steve Moran goal; a few weeks later, they beat First Division newcomers Chelsea in the same circumstances; in early November, they won 1–0 against Nottingham Forest, who had finished just behind them the previous year; and the following week, they scored a late equaliser against defending champions Liverpool at Anfield. By the time their unbeaten run was ended by Coventry City in mid-December, the Saints had made it up to fifth place in the First Division table. In the final few games of the run, regular starters Mark Wright and Steve Williams had been dropped following a "dressing room brawl" at half-time during a League Cup tie.
Over the Christmas period, Southampton dropped to ninth in the table after a string of poor results, including two home defeats against Watford and Sheffield Wednesday. The new year saw the side regain a few positions, with narrow wins in January over Leicester City and Sunderland bookending a disappointing loss on the road at Norwich City. The Saints picked up their biggest win of the campaign the next month, as they beat Queens Park Rangers (who would end the season avoiding relegation by just one point) 4–0 with goals from Joe Jordan, David Armstrong, Danny Wallace and Steve Moran. Another four-goal performance a month later in a 4–3 win over West Bromwich Albion was the last appearance of Ian Baird, who left a few weeks later having scored twice in the win. Southampton climbed to fourth place in the table after a 2–0 win over Chelsea in March.
A three-game spell in which the club picked up just one point saw the club drop to eighth in the table. The two defeats in this run saw the Saints facing the top two sides in the league, picking up their biggest defeat of the season, 1–5, at Tottenham Hotspur, before experiencing a 1–2 defeat at home by eventual champions Everton. As they set their sights on a place in the next season's UEFA Cup, Southampton went on a short unbeaten run of five games in April, during which time they picked up vital wins over mid-table sides Luton Town (a 1–0 victory in which Wallace scored the only goal), Leicester City (an "end-to-end" contest which ended 3–1) and Aston Villa (a 2–0 win which featured the Football League debut of midfielder Andy Townsend). A 1–2 defeat at the hands of Newcastle United at the end of the month saw Southampton trailing in seventh place.
The last four games of the season included two wins – over relegation-fighting Ipswich Town and Coventry City – a final day 1–1 draw with runners-up Liverpool, and a 0–1 defeat to Arsenal. The result was a fifth-place finish for Southampton – their second highest in the top flight to date, and one which afforded them qualification to the UEFA Cup next season. However, due to the subsequent banning of English sides from UEFA competitions in the wake of the Heysel Stadium disaster, the club would not play in Europe until the 2003–04 season nearly 20 years later. 1984–85 was the last season to feature long-term manager Lawrie McMenemy, who left less than three weeks after the conclusion of the league to take over as Sunderland manager (where he would remain for just under two years). He was replaced before the start of the next season by former player Chris Nicholl, who had departed for an assistant-manager role at Grimsby Town just two years earlier, taking on his first role as a first-team manager.
List of match results
Final league table
Results by matchday
FA Cup